North to Alaska
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40 free North to Alaska trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
North to Alaska is John Wayne with his guard down: a big, good-natured comedy Western from 1960 about two gold-mining partners, a fiancée who fails to turn up, and the dance-hall girl brought back in her place. It has con men, claim jumpers, a hit title song and one of the most cheerfully chaotic fist fights Wayne ever filmed. This quiz covers the whole picture: the story and its characters, the stars and the character actors around them, a production that began without a finished script, the song that outlived the film, and the real gold fever the story is set against. It is written for John Wayne fans, lovers of classic Westerns and anyone putting together a movie round for quiz night. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
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Q 01North to Alaska is set in which gold-rush boomtown on Alaska's Bering Sea coast?
Nome
Nome boomed after gold was found nearby in 1898, and by the 1900 census it was the largest community in Alaska. The film opens with its three miners already rich.
Q 02To which city does Sam McCord sail in North to Alaska to fetch his partner's fiancée, Jenny?
Seattle
Seattle is where Sam shops for mining machinery and where he learns Jenny will not be coming. He sails home with a different Frenchwoman instead.
Q 03In North to Alaska, what has George Pratt's fiancée Jenny done by the time Sam McCord finds her?
Married a butler
Jenny has married a butler, and she faints on hearing that the man she jilted is now a millionaire. Sam, dreading the news he must carry home, starts looking for a substitute.
Q 04What does Sam McCord finally shout in public to stop Angel leaving at the end of North to Alaska?
That he loves her
That he loves her is the one thing the marriage-hating Sam has refused to admit all film. Angel, on her way to the boat out, jumps into his arms.
Q 05Where does the famous all-out brawl that ends North to Alaska, and exposes Frankie Canon, take place?
In a muddy street
In a muddy street, Sam ends the free-for-all by dousing Frankie in the mud. The fight also brings the con man's fake claim on the gold mine to light.
Q 06How does con man Frankie Canon come to own the Palace while Sam McCord is away in North to Alaska?
In a card game
In a card game, and a crooked one, Frankie wins the hotel from its previous owner. He then propositions Angel, an old flame who wants nothing more to do with him.
Q 07In North to Alaska, where does George Pratt spend an evening with Angel to make Sam McCord jealous?
The honeymoon cabin
The honeymoon cabin was built by George for Jenny, the fiancée who never came. His act works too well: Sam charges in, slaps him and insults Angel.
Q 08How does Sam McCord sober up young Billy Pratt after a night of drinking in North to Alaska?
Throws him in the river
Sam throws him in the river after the 17-year-old drinks himself silly trying to impress Angel. Billy had passed out over the dinner he hoped would charm her.
Q 09Which teen idol, a pop singer from Philadelphia, plays young Billy Pratt in North to Alaska?
Fabian
Fabian was cast because the studio hoped he would draw younger moviegoers to a John Wayne picture. He also gets a song of his own in the film.
Q 10Which country singer, fresh from a hit with Sink the Bismarck, recorded the title song of North to Alaska?
Johnny Horton
Johnny Horton took the song to the top of the country chart, and it crossed over to the pop top five. Its verses tell the miners' story before the film begins.
Q 11The director and star of North to Alaska reunited in 1969 for which Western that won John Wayne an Oscar?
True Grit
True Grit brought Wayne his only competitive Academy Award, for playing the one-eyed marshal Rooster Cogburn. The same director had guided him through the Alaskan comedy nine years earlier.
Q 12Filming of North to Alaska was delayed while John Wayne finished directing which costly passion project?
The Alamo
The Alamo ended up costing Wayne millions of his own money, and it pushed the Alaskan comedy back to May 1960. Both films reached cinemas within weeks of each other that autumn.
Q 13Despite its title, North to Alaska was shot on locations at Point Mugu and Mammoth in which state?
California
Q 21In North to Alaska, Sam McCord first meets Angel at which dance hall where she works as a hostess?
The Henhouse
The Henhouse is where Sam goes to drown his sorrows after losing George's bride, and where he hits on a plan. He offers Angel the trousseau and half a gold mine to come home with him.
Q 22Before Sam McCord sails in North to Alaska, what does Frankie Canon offer him as security for a loan?
A diamond ring
A diamond ring, supposedly priceless, is Frankie's bait until a stray whiskey bottle smashes the gem to bits. Sam sees he has been conned and slugs him.
Q 23To what event does Sam McCord's old boss Lars Nordquist invite him and Angel in North to Alaska?
A loggers' picnic
California stood in for the far north: a missile base on the coast served as the gold-rush waterfront, and Mount Morrison looms in the background of many shots.
Q 14North to Alaska was announced in 1959, when Alaska itself was all over the news for what reason?
It became a state
It became a state in January 1959, the 49th, and within weeks the studio announced a John Wayne picture then called The Alaskans. It took nearly two years to reach the screen.
Q 15Kathleen Freeman, Lena in North to Alaska, later played a nun nicknamed the Penguin in which comedy?
The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers cast her as Sister Mary Stigmata, a part she repeated in the 1998 sequel. She was also Jerry Lewis's regular foil, in comedies such as The Nutty Professor.
Q 16The real Alaskan gold rush behind North to Alaska was unusual because much of the gold lay where?
In the beach sand
In the beach sand, gold could be panned by anyone, because the shore could not be staked as a claim. A tent city of fortune hunters soon lined the coast for miles.
Q 17Which French star, a former Givenchy model found by agent Charles Feldman, plays Angel in North to Alaska?
Capucine
Capucine took her stage name from the French word for the nasturtium flower. Feldman, her agent and partner, had set the comedy up at the studio with her in mind.
Q 18Which British star of Scaramouche plays George Pratt, John Wayne's gold-mining partner, in North to Alaska?
Stewart Granger
Stewart Granger was born James Stewart and changed his name to avoid being confused with the American film star. He was known mainly for heroic and romantic leads.
Q 19Which cigar-smoking television comedian plays the con man Frankie Canon in North to Alaska?
Ernie Kovacs
Ernie Kovacs was an inventive TV comic whose popular Nairobi Trio sketch had three derby-hatted apes miming to music. Frankie Canon let him play a smiling crook.
Q 20Which veteran director of The Sons of Katie Elder made North to Alaska, his comic northern with John Wayne?
Henry Hathaway
Henry Hathaway found the script full of gold-rush cliches, so he played up the characters and the comedy. Wayne had wanted him as director from the start.
A loggers' picnic is where Angel starts to fall for Sam, after he flattens a drunk who paws at her. He treats her all day like a respectable lady.
Q 24Which drunken worker at the Palace does Frankie Canon use to file a false claim in North to Alaska?
A porter
A porter named Peter Boggs is Frankie's pawn, chosen because he once lived on the land Sam and George now mine. Sam finally finds him locked in a room, still drunk.
Q 25In which city had Angel and Frankie Canon been lovers before the events of North to Alaska?
New Orleans
New Orleans is where Frankie jilted Angel after an intense affair. When he propositions her again at the Palace, she turns him down flat.
Q 26The actress who plays Angel in North to Alaska later played a jewel thief's lover in which Blake Edwards comedy?
The Pink Panther
The Pink Panther made her Inspector Clouseau's wife, secretly involved with the thief played by David Niven. She came back for two more films in the series in the 1980s.
Q 27Mickey Shaughnessy, who plays Peter Boggs in North to Alaska, had been Elvis Presley's mentor in which film?
Jailhouse Rock
Jailhouse Rock cast him as Hunk Houghton, the convict who takes Elvis's character under his wing. A burly six-footer, he made a career of tough, colourful types.
Q 28Which Hollywood studio made North to Alaska as the first of a three-picture deal with John Wayne?
20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox lost its production chief, Buddy Adler, who died during the shoot. He had promised Wayne he would personally whip the unfinished script into shape.
Q 29North to Alaska started shooting without a finished script, largely because of what Hollywood event?
A writers' strike
A writers' strike hit Hollywood in 1960, and the two men who wrote the film had already left it for television. Wayne grumbled that his director was having to make up scenes.
Q 30The son of which famous crooner quit the part of Billy Pratt in North to Alaska, calling it too young?
Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby's son Gary, then 26, walked out in January 1960 rather than play a 17-year-old boy. A teen idol nine years his junior took the part instead.